Rise Above Tragedy
Author's note Well, here is my back story. ;) It will be pretty sad. :( Let me know if you would like me to notify you when I update. :) Chapter 1 - Dragonfight Sitting on the highest branch possible, I could see all around the island. I could see the village, with little dots moving around that I knew were people. I could see my house, smoke wisping out of the chimney, and a spot on the roof that was probably my father fixing a leak. I could see the cliffs, covered in the plant I was named after, and the other trees all around below me, waving in the slight breeze, like feathers on a bird. And all around everything else, as far as my eyes could see, was the ocean. Above me was nothing but blue sky, besides the top of my tall tree. A flock of Terrible Terrors was perched in the few small branches above my head, chirping and chattering. I knew that if I sat still, they would take no notice of me, and even if I did startle them, they were more likely to fly away than anything else. I thought of all the times my parents had said I was like one of them, always sitting in a tree, and smiled. I had always loved climbing trees and being up high, and every time I wished I could just jump out of the tree and fly, like a dragon. I sighed. Other than that, I was perfectly happy. This was my world, I loved it the way it was, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. But this younger, carefree, innocent me was oblivious to the fact that this was about to change. I sat there for a long time, enjoying the peace and beauty of sitting in the tree. Then I heard a sound that would change my life forever. It was the roar of a dragon.I was used to hearing dragon calls as I sat in my tree, but this was different. This was a roar of pain and anger. I looked in the direction the roar had come from, and saw a tree or two shake slightly. This aroused my curiosity, of course, and I began to climb down the tree, scaring Terrible Terrors off as I did. I swung down off the last branch, brushed lichen off my skirt, and started toward where the noise was coming from. Now that I was on the ground, I could tell it was actually quite a ways away, at the other end of the island. I could still hear a roar once in a while, and as I drew nearer, I heard crashing and growling as well. Finally, after crashing through bushes and hopping over logs for quite a ways through the forest, I came to screen of large bushes, with the noise obviously coming from right behind it. I parted the bushes and looked in. There, in a good-sized clearing, two dragons were fighting. One was a purple Typhoomerang, which I recognized from the Book of Dragons on Berk. The other was not familiar, though it looked sort of like a Windstriker covered in metal armor. The Typhoomerang, which was bigger, seemed to be winning, though the other dragon was putting up a good fight. I looked around the partly blackened, smoking, blood-spattered clearing, and to my horror, saw the cause of the fight. Under a bush lay a baby dragon with shiny scales, a miniature of the unknown dragon, but obviously dead. My guess was that the Typhoomerang had killed the baby, either by accident or purpose, and the mother was angry enough to attack a dragon way bigger than her. Suddenly I felt sorry for the poor dragon, and thought about the five dragons I had met on Berk. Hookfang was cool, Meatlug was cute and sweet, Barf and Belch were funny, Stormfly... well, we had quite the history together, and especially Toothless. I would hate if anything bad happened to them. Hiccup had met his dragon when he was wounded, and helped him, and trained him, and now they were best friends. What if I could do the same and train my own? Then I could fly like I always wanted to when sitting in the tree. That time I had ridden Stormfly was amazing, but what if I could get my own? But then, I realized that the shiny dragon was losing, and would likely die, and then the Typhoomerang would fly away, and I wouldn't have a chance of training it. Oh well, maybe I could find another dragon somewhere else. But then I saw the shiny one collapse to the ground, her leg badly injured by the other dragon's claws. She tried to get up, but couldn't, and gave a moan. Without giving much thought to what I was doing, I reached for my horn, and just as the Typhoomerang was about to finish her off with a blast of fire to the head, I blew into it. Hearing the sound, and knowing it came from a human, the big dragon was startled, and flew away. When I was sure it had gone, I put my horn back and walked cautiously up to the moaning dragon. Besides her leg, her wing was also torn up pretty badly, and she had other gashes and ripped scales. As I slowly came closer, she lifted her head and looked at me suspiciously, growling slightly. Maybe this dragon wouldn't die yet. Maybe... I could help her. But first I would have to train her. I thought of everything I could remember about training dragons from Hiccup. Let's see, you had to earn their trust, bring them fish, for Deadly Nadders you smoothed down their tail spikes. This dragon appeared to have spikes. Cautiously, I made my way to the dragon's metallic tail. "It's okay, I won't hurt you. I'm here to help." I said softly. "It's ookaaayy..." I moved my hand slowly towards her tail and started to smooth down the spiked out scales. I could tell by the scales in the trees and ground nearby that she could shoot her spines, like Stormfly. It seemed to be working, when suddenly she spiked out her tail and shot a spine. I ducked, but I was way out its way anyway. "Okay, so that didn't work." I muttered as I backed up, away from the dragon. But I couldn't just leave her there to die, she was in the open, unprotected, and badly wounded. I thought of what else I could try. Fish? "Stay here, don't worry, I'll be back in just a minute." I said soothingly to her, and ran off towards the village. Chapter 2 - Making Friends Slamming the door open, I ran into my house, panting from running all the way there. "Hello, Heather, dear, what's the matter?" my mother asked when she saw me. "Nothing." I said casually, "I was just running. Y'know. I just needed something really quick." I grabbed some fish, stuffed them in my black satchel, and ran back out, my mom looking after me, wondering what in Odin's name I was doing. When I was almost to the place where the dragon was, I had to stop and catch my breath. When I had done that, I walked quietly back to the dragon in the clearing. She was still there, laying on the ground licking her wounds. I watched sadly as she tried to get up and fly, but only collapsed to the ground again. Poor dragon. I brought out a fish, and held it in her direction. "Here, I got you some fish." I said. She sniffed it from a distance, looking hungry. I stepped a bit closer, but she growled. Okay, so she didn't want me coming close. I tossed the fish in front of her. She looked at me, looked at the fish, looked at me, and looked at the fish again. Then she sniffed it, cautiously at first, and examined it carefully. Finally, she picked it up in her mouth and swallowed it, still looking at me a bit suspiciously. Well, at least this was a start. I got another fish out of my satchel, and tossed it to her. The silver dragon sniffed it over carefully once again and ate it. While she was doing that, I inched a little bit closer. I wasn't sure if she noticed, but if she did I guess she pretended not to. After a few fish, I had gotten close enough that she definitely noticed, and she growled threateningly, so I moved away. I gave her the rest of the fish, then sat down a safe distance away, taking out my sketchbook and charcoal. As I began to sketch the dragon, she appeared to be watching me with suspicion and curiosity at the same time. When I was done, I held up the book in her direction. She looked at the picture, probably wondering why I had drawn her. I did a few more sketches, then looked up at the sun and realized I should probably be getting back home for dinner. I closed my book and put it away. "I've got to go now." I said to the dragon, "But I'll be back, I promise." I smiled at her, and she looked at me, but I couldn't quite tell in what way. As I walked back to the village, I wondered how much of what I said she had actually understood. "There you are, Heather, where were you?" my mother said when I came in, hanging my satchel on a chair. "Um, I was just out hiking." I said. "Sorry I was late." I washed my hands and helped with what there was left of preparing dinner. I guess she didn't ask for an explanation because I would often come home from a hike later than I'm supposed to. My father came in, and we sat down to eat dinner. As we ate, I asked, "Dad, have you ever seen a dragon with shiny silver scales?" He looked up. "Actually, yes, I have. There was one a couple weeks ago, attacking the sheep. Looked like a Wind-whatsit covered in metal armor. It got away, though. That dragon was a rascally one. Why do you ask?" "Windstriker, you mean?" I corrected him. "Oh, I just wondered, y'know." Over the next few days, I visited the beautiful dragon as often as I possibly could, feeding her fish and trying to get closer to her. But she would never let me get close enough to touch her. One day I came walking up to the area of the forest where the dragon lay, with the regular sack of fish in my hands. She lifted her head and stared at me with her big green eyes. "Hey, girl, how's it going?" I said softly as I set down the sack. She made a sound in her throat and looked at the sack. "You want some fish?" I reached my hand in, then a second later drew it back with a squeal as it came in contact with something disgustingly slimy. "Ewwwwww!" I hurriedly wiped my hand on my tunic. "What in Thor's name was that?! Definetly not a fish." I dumped the sack on the ground, and along with the fish, out came a brightly colored sea slug. "How did that get in here?!" I kicked the creature away with my boot, but accidentally moved it closer to the dragon. She immediatly grabbed it up in her silvery jaws and gulped it down. When she had finished, she looked at me expectantly. "I... don't have any more... sorry..." I said. Well, this was new. She seemed to like the sea slug even more than any fish I had given her. "I'll get more for you next time. For now, all I have is fish." She seemed to be alright with fish, so I gave it to her. I made a mental note to find out how I could acquire sea slugs. Chapter 3 - The Hunt I lifted the chicken from her nest and grabbed the egg, the hen squawking in protest. It was still warm. Putting it in my collection, I took all the eggs back to the house. On my way, I overheard several men talking as they walked by. "You all ready to go find that dragon? We're leavin' in a few minutes." "Yup. All ready." "Which dragon? The shiny one that keeps stealin' the sheep? I haven't seen that one for a few days, thought maybe it left." "Oh, it's prob'ly still out there, just waiting for its next chance to attack. That's why we're goin' out to get it before it gets us. I think it's in the woods at the far end o' the island." That was all I needed to hear. I rushed the eggs into the house, and ran back out without even bothering to clean up the broken one I dropped on the floor. I knew what those men had been talking about; they were going hunting for the silver dragon! I had to hide her before they killed her. I ran to the forest with some more fish. She sat up as I held one out to her. "Hey, girl, can you get up?" I tried to get her to stand up for the fish. I knew of a cave nearby, if I could get her to walk I could fit her in there. "Come on, there's not much time! I'm trying to help you." I held out my hand. I hadn't even tried touching her yet, maybe if I... She didn't growl. I stretched my hand out and waited. A moment later, her smooth scales touched my palm. I looked up and smiled at her, then I heard voices far off. They were coming. I handed her the fish, then got out another one. I backed off a few paces and held it out. The dragon must have known the men were coming to get her, because she glanced in that direction and stood up. I lead her over to the cave, the entrance of which was covered by a cutain of ivy. We went inside and I gave her the fish. She laid down in a corner while I made sure no one would be able to tell we had come in here. I finished just in time, as the voices of the Vikings were closer now, almost right outside. I sat down near the dragon, hoping they didn't know about the cave. They apparently didn't, as they walked right past, swords and axes clanking against sheilds. The dragon growled low in her throat. "Shh, it's okay, girl, you're safe in here." I whispered, patting her snout. "We should stay here longer, though, just to make sure." She ate another fish, then settled down and curled up. I rested my head on my arms, listening to her breathing as it slowed down and she fell asleep. Good. She needed it, to help her wound heal. I took a look at her wing. It was scabbed over, and didn't look too bad. I hoped it wouldn't cause any permanant damage, but it was hard to tell, since she wouldn't let me touch it. ~''TBC'' Heather the Berserker 01:08, November 27, 2016 (UTC) Category:Fan-Fiction stories Category:Heather's Stories